I was unaware of the VIVAT label, an artist-driven-and-produced label spearheaded by Robert King, the director of the brilliant King’s Consort. Shame on me, my CD shelves are fairly packed with King’s Consort CDs. Their Monteverdi, Purcell, and Bach’s Contemporaries albums are all-time favorites—their Vivaldi sacred music series actually changed my view of the composer.

What we have on VIVAT is repertoire The King’s Consort were unable to record for Hyperion, including Mendelssohn’s arrangement of Handel’s Israel in Egypt, Purcell’s String Sonatas, Handel oratorio arias with countertenor superstar Iestyn Davies, Monteverdi sacred and secular music with soprano Carolyn Sampson, and more. VIVAT’s catalog extends beyond King’s Consort projects with the sensational Luca Guglielmi playing Bach, the Allegri String Quartet performing Beethoven, and next on my listening list, pianist Alissa Firsova in a program of music by Russian Émigrés.